Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Floating on Air

We start out today with a picture from one of the weekend puppy raisers who had spent time with Mike. I thank them for helping to mold Mike into the amazing wonderful service dog he is today. Getting the pictures this week put tears of joy into my eyes so I figured I would share this one with you all.

For those that have been following these entries for a while this may sound a tad redundant but I have been a little busy over the past couple weeks. Let's see we had the State Department Convention for the American Legion where we accomplished a full slate of activities and elected our next years Department Command. Congratulations to Paul and all the other new officers and many prayers to a great year to come. Next up on the Legion for Post 111 is our Annual Concert on the Green which is happening 13 August, 2015 on the Green in Woodstock. The planning for this is in full swing and should be a great time for all. Please come out and enjoy some music food and fun and help support Northeastern CT's Quiet Corner. Our Post is also of course doing the annual Woodstock Fair again this year and is looking for volunteers to man the food booth which is one of our largest fund raisers of the year. If you would like to help out in anyway we sure would love the support.
On the 9th of August, Post 91 in Moosup CT is having their annual VJ Day Parade and Mike and I will be there on the bandstand documenting it for the States Historical Records and we are looking forward to this year especially because the parade will have a number of honorees from WWII in the Parade from around the State. Please take your time and come out and help honor these Veterans who helped shape this nation in one of the only VJ parades left in this country.

Mike & I have also traveled to the Balloon Festival in RI where we had a blast with a great group of other people from the North East Truck Camper Jamboree. That was a party inside the big event that made the not so good weather for balloons much more fun.

As always Mike is fitting into his role as the "Kent monitor & magnet to get people talking". During the Balloon Festival I was able to give out an awful lot of information and talk about how America's VetDogs is helping change veterans lives. We got to meet celebrities that were performing at the festival and just had a great time hanging out with fellow truck camping enthusiast. For those that have never tried this style camping it may be hard to understand why those of us that do it believe so strongly in it as the best way to travel and gather as a group. There is something about being so compact yet having all the features of the large RV's.

This past weekend I had the enjoyment of pulling the camera out and pushing myself to shoot an entire day of sports. Dan my son went to compete in the New Hampshire State Strongman/Strongwomen championship and I was asked if I could help document the event. It was a special honor for me since my son had just turned 24 and as he grows older I get less time with him. We got to spent 2 days together enjoying each others company which for me was such a gift. Having Mike with me to do this was such a pleasure also because his temperament was perfect for this event. This was the first time I actually was focused (I know bad pun) on picture taking and not Mike yet he stayed true to me and did not pull or attempt to guide me off course at all. Many questions were asked and as always Mike was a perfect example to the general public of what a service dog should be.

My blessing abound for sure. Up until yesterday I thought my month of August was actually going to be a tad slower then my normal pace but alas that has changed yet again. I will be heading off to the National Convention in Baltimore for the American Legion National at the end of the month. I have done this convention a few times and it is always a great time hanging out with fellow legionnaires. Tomorrow I continue the local tour with Mike when I go to Speak at the Pomfret Senior Center which asked if I would be willing to come up and share a while back. We look forward to these small gatherings as much as the large ones because I get to see how Mike touches hearts and touching hearts is what it is all about.

I can not thank everyone enough for allowing me to share and help others it is what keeps me going forward. Thank you all. Hope to see you all on the road soon. God Bless!

“Living well is an art that can be developed: a love of life and ability to take great pleasure from small offerings and assurance that the world owes you nothing and that every gift is exactly that, a gift. ”― Maya Angelou